Kerala - Kochi   

Bypass development in limbo

Photo: Vipinchandran

BUMPY RIDE: Improper road maintenance work and failure to enforce traffic rules have made the Vytilla-Palarivattom stretch of the NH 47 bypass accident-prone.

KOCHI: Lack of coordination between the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the Public Works Department (National Highway) and traffic-rule enforcement agencies has led to a free-for-all situation on the Aroor-Edapally stretch of the NH 47 bypass.

Three two-wheeler riders were killed in accidents on the stretch during the past four days. Inadequate road-safety measures and rule enforcement resulted in the accidents. The NHAI owns the 16-km stretch, except for the Vytilla-Edapally portion, the maintenance part of which has been entrusted with the PWD (NH). Officials of the PWD blamed the Authority for the inordinate delay in sanctioning funds to carry out urgent maintenance and upkeep of the four-lane road, which has become highly accident prone.

“It is over four months since we submitted periodic-maintenance plans to the Authority to fill potholes, install signages, trim the shrubs that affect visibility at U-turns, dig drains and maintain service roads in motorable condition. But administrative sanction and funds have not been received yet.

The Authority has not cleared the bills submitted for the work done a few months ago. We cannot carry out the work unless there is assurance of payment,” a senior PWD engineer said.

There is little trace of road-markings and signages installed about eight years ago on the stretch. The drains have either caved in or have been filled up by unscrupulous businessmen to facilitate direct entry to their shops and side roads.

Motorists violating the one-way rule to gain direct access to U-turns have been causing accidents on a regular basis. Despite these, neither the police nor the Motor Vehicles’ Department has embarked on an earnest attempt to prevent violation of traffic rules. The reluctance of a section of motorists to abide by lane discipline (leaving the fast track to faster-moving vehicles) and to pay heed to parking regulations have made matters worse.

The NHAI has done precious little to maintain street-light posts in good condition and many of them are heavily corroded.

The agency has not rectified the erroneously-placed expansion joints on the Vytilla bridge, which offer a bumpy ride to motorists. Crossing the Kundanoor, Palarivattom and Edapally bypass junctions is a nightmare, mainly due to faulty planning of the junctions and inadequate width. The service roads have become parking lots for cars, autos and lorries, making driving near-impossible.

The cash-rich NHAI has been unable to finalise a contractor to carry out pending work on four-laning the Aroor-Vytilla portion of the NH. Gea-Mecon, a joint venture company, had abandoned the work over a year ago citing its inability to execute the work.

An Authority official said that tender-processing was still under way to finalise a new contractor.

The damage to the concrete beam of the Kumbalam parallel bridge is already a cause for concern.

The delay in four-laning has been causing huge traffic hold-ups during peak hours. Accidents are common at potholed links where the road narrows down to two-lane.

The Authority has not even begun preliminary assessment work for the flyovers proposed in the busy bypass junctions at Kundanoor, Vytilla, Palarivattom and Edapally.

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